Why It Works.

Helping Deaf Children Learn to Read

Fairview’s 5-component reading intervention offers interventions that can be implemented by individuals of all manual philosophies and abilities, ranging from English-based sign systems to fluent ASL users. The conceptually accurate sign interventions provide a transition to ASL, enabling implementation without rigid and comprehensive philosophical change. Furthermore, the five Fairview components create a comprehensive intervention which addresses all three domains of bimodal bilingual language ability- signacy, literacy, and oracy (Nover, Christensen, & Cheng, 1998; Nover, 2006), something no other protocol currently addresses.

The Fairview Learning intervention program provides a structured approach to assist deaf students with reading. Most importantly, the program allows users to literally see students make connections between English print and ASL through the use of conceptually accurate signing, code switching, and explicit teaching techniques and tools. Consistent and significant outcomes result when the following procedures occur.

2) full implementation of the Fairview protocol – use of all 5 components simultaneously;

3) instructor fidelity to the model – the FV protocol.

Further research with programs that succeed with the implementation of all three practices is ongoing. We also recommend the addition of standardized pre and post reading measures such as the Stanford Achievement Test for the Hearing Impaired (SAT-HI), the Diagnostic Assessment of Reading (DAR), or other standardized tests to compare student progress.